Developer Chat - 2000/10/18

Original Link (now dead) - http://classic.zone.msn.com/asheronscall/news/devchatOct1.asp

Transcript of Developer's Chat, October 18th

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On Wednesday, October 18, the Turbine team met in the Zone Theater Chat Room to discuss current issues with Asheron's Call and the world of Dereth. This dev chat continued to follow the question-first and queue-clearing format, allowing as many people to participate. The following transcript has been edited for length and clarity.

rei@Turbine> I'm Eri "reijin" Izawa, lead designer for Asheron's Call and general spec shuffler. With me are:

rei@Turbine> Jesse "Nei" Kurlancheek, game designer, scripter, general systems guy.

rei@Turbine> David "Crowley" Javier, game designer, dungeon maker, and dialogue meister.

rei@Turbine> Ken Troop, Martine's tormenter, is with us tonight.

rei@Turbine> Cardell Kerr is the Mask Meister.

rei@Turbine> Sean "artist extraordinaire" Huxter, lead artist, is also with us tonight.

rei@Turbine> Charley producerly-figure, is with us...

rei@Turbine> And Jason, techno artist with attitude is also with us :)

rei@Turbine> And here's one more announcement:

rei@Turbine> We recognize the changes to heaumes significantly altered many characters' appearances through no action of their own, and further that many players found the change to be aggravating. In this case, we have decided to go ahead and revert existing heaumes to the way they used to be to rectify the situation. The new "smooth look" helms will still be available as "armets," and all newly generated heaumes will be upgraded with more detailed artwork.

LillithsJabber> Question: Could we see new portals to dungeons placed somewhere more interesting than out in the open?

LillithsJabber> i.e. Some Portals now are in Crypts, I know of one in a statue head, also know of another that is up a flight a stairs in the desert. Although this is not as important as the content inside a dungeon, the portal placement can create the mood (excitement) for what may lie inside. Could we please see more of this creativity? Perhaps a portal within the trunk of a large tree or one behind a waterfall (is that even possible?).

Crowley@turbine> We can put portals in more interesting locations. There've been some good ideas bounced around about this.

nei@turbine> i put portals in my pocket to keep them safe.

Crowley@turbine> Having stuff inside a tree would be cool, and that's an idea we've thought of, but it requires more dev time that usually ends up going to other things.

Crowley@turbine> But yeah, we'd like to do more with "atmosphere" than just plopping stuff down on landscape.

Crowley@turbine> So your suggestion is noted, thanks.

Minuo_of_LC> What kind of love is lockpick looking at? Right now lockpick is only a minor convenience. No one needs to spend 6 skill credits to be able to lag through a door. There are no good chests that can be picked. Might you be able to make a switch that can be picked and opens 10 doors? That way it would take a lot longer to lag through them.

rei@Turbine> Yes, we are thinking about how lockpicking can be helped....

rei@Turbine> Lockpick-requiring doors and chests are still part of the solution, but we are interested in interesting suggestions too :)

eedmond> Can you make more quest items a bit better? The Fenmalain shield is useless and so is the new crystal bow cause fragment pieces are so hard to get and so valuable nobody wants to waste them on arrows. I Like the new Gharu and Sho Masks. DONE.

Crowley@turbine> Sure. We'll make quest items "better."

fathercordell> Q: Will you please "fix" the trade skills so new items merge with similar items in the backpack upon creation?

fathercordell> It can't be that hard to do, it's the exact thing that happens when you pick an item up, surely you must be able to fool the client into thinking it's just picked the item up. I'm developing alchemy related RSI with so much clicking.

fathercordell> And a major shout out to whoever worked on the new underground city. It's gorgeous.

Charley@Turbine> There actually is a fix to that already

Charley@Turbine> For some reason people don' t know about this, (even some of the folks here) but I use it all the time

nei@turbine> on the upside: in november, alchemists will save 200+ clicks/per 50 infusions made...

nei@turbine> it's not all that great, but it takes the pain out of the first step in the process.

Charley@Turbine> If you select an item, say an arrowhead, and hit the "f" key, it will stack automatically

Charley@Turbine> Not perfect, but it helps a lot.

Miles667> Will you fix the Ranking System,( help us out ) its been a year and nobody can hang onto rank 8 let alone higher, It would be easier to have it go off the # of followers instead of a set structure. That way you dont have 600+ followers and are rank 5-6. Instead of rank 9, with the limited # of people per server due to lag issues. The chance of too many rank 9+ people is very minimal.

nei@turbine> rank system doesn't seem to be broken to me.

nei@turbine> if you can maintain a rank 8+ allegiance that means something.

nei@turbine> sure the tools aren't there, but i've known 1200+ groups... if they organzied right, they'd hit 10

rei@Turbine> We are also kicking around ideas to make maintaining an allegiance easier.

Scutter_0> Well, me first question was jacked so here is one a friend wanted to know. What OS / Platform does AC run on? Hey guys, kudos for the absolute best game I have ever played. Ever. Period. Thanks!

nei@turbine> ac runs on windows.

Buffy_Becca> Q: What non combat skills and content are being developed and if you cant tell me that, what do you want to see in the area of noncombat skills and content.

rei@Turbine> There are no definite NEW non-combat skills in the pipeline.

rei@Turbine> We add non-combat material all the time (e.g., dresses, pumpkins, etc.)

rei@Turbine> We can't go into future specifics though :)

doh_jhed_con> Q: Can you *permanently* fix the Three Towers Quest in the Dires (the one where the Accolyte opens the portal on its death)? It's almost ALWAYS broken! I've run to the dungeon 5 times since it was put in, and only ONCE was it working...

doh_jhed_con> Every other time, something was broken. In fact just this week, a few of my friends and I were there, all of whom had completed it before, and we couldn't even get into the 2nd tower. We couldn't even complete 2 of the 3 things to get the dungeon portal open, and all the advocates said "we were told it is NOT broken" even though it clearly was (we'd all done it successfully before, some of us multiple times!). Maybe you'd consider changing it to a regular, dependable portal.

Charley@Turbine> We are aware of a bug in that quest, but it's a tricky one. It seems that sometimes if players complete the quest out of order it will confuse some of the mechanics. We're working on a fix, but we have no ETA.

Collosis> Can we get a key map option that allows us to put items in the first container after the backpack or last container selected (like the F key works for the main backpack)? Any empty container can be moved to the first slot after the backpack with ease.

Collosis> This would facilitate the speed at which loot can be organized and/or sold, for everyone. Great job on the masks :) and especially the game ;)

rei@Turbine> It's something worth looking into, certainly.

jkircher> Q: Are there any plans for "Seeker" type spells? The existing bolt-style spells work for creatures standing still or charging at you, but are inadequate against targets changing their speed or going after a comrade. Even creatures attacking someone else can throw the lead of a "bolt" or "streak". Suggestion: ...

jkircher> A *hug* social? (Tilt torso and head to the right, bring arms around, left high, right low, lean forward a small amount - just a thought)

nei@turbine> no. simple as that.

ashputtle01> May we please have another way to earn skill points; either through a buy-back, a one-time quest, or simply purchase them with XPs? I love this game, but have too much time invested in this character to reroll.

ashputtle01> I'll do what ever it takes to save my sorcerer; a trip to Aerlinthe or the heart of the Obsidian Plains, or even to the Turbine offices with a cooler of beer and a stack of pizzas.

Charley@Turbine> What kind of pizzas?

nei@turbine> i was about to say no... until i saw the part about the beer.

rei@Turbine> There are no current plans to implement that, sorry... we also do encourage creating new characters.

nei@turbine> but no, the only thing i could see are one-time quests for at most a single point or MAYBE two.

Cravin1414> Are there gonna be anymore new servers and if so think its possible to have a RACE war server where say for instance sho are nonpk to other sho but are pk to the other races and vice versus? This is something me and a few friends would like to see!

Crowley@turbine> ewww, race wars, all sorts of creepy connotations there

nei@turbine> especially with our 3 human races...

nei@turbine> eegads.

rei@Turbine> We are not going to have racewar servers :)

Crowley@turbine> as for new servers... I don't think that's our row to hoe

cwpool> I am a level 64 Aluvian female mage without my dagger skill, I am a member of a very large Monarchy 2000+ and have found that many of us females are without our heritage skill...

cwpool> With the new quests: Atlans, Ravenous, Hollow and the new masks we are finding quests useless to us. I hear this is a bug and if it is will you be fixing it?

rei@Turbine> Hmm, that's a difficult bug....

rei@Turbine> We are looking into what can be done, but it's not an easy situation.

mike_henry> Q: Any ETA on when we are gonna be able to know where a monster hit us? I.E. "Drudge Skulker hits you on your abdomen for 64 points of electrical damage"...that would help alot and add alot more realism...

rei@Turbine> No ETA, but it's still in our want-to-do-list.

poll3975> Can Mentors and Items that permanently increase skills be added to the game? ex Raising my Alchemy skill with xp from killing skeletons....

poll3975> I'd rather quest for secret books on Entarra's Mystical Flying Potion. Such items pour X xp into a skill maybe lvling the char. Usable once/char. Mentors meet you weekly to teach their skill. Each meeting skill may go up by 5 pts. Limit char to 1 mentor, must pay NPC mentors appropriately. Mentor must have skill char & limited # of students. Done properly great use of patrons w/new Mentor skill.

rei@Turbine> It's a neat concept, probably difficult to balance, and not likely any time soon.

nei@turbine> dagger fix: pt 1 in november... quick fix..

nei@turbine> pt 2 (the interesting one): "after that"

nei@turbine> pt 1 = tweaks to some weapons.

nei@turbine> pt 2 = something that will have other classes crying since dagger got something cooler than them =p

SmokeBuddha> Are there any plans to make Missile Def. a viable skill? Missile Def. is only an 8 credit arcane. I would like to see high lvl monsters shooting hard hitting missiles or the option to sell it back, as it is it is utterly worthless. Thanks for your time.

rei@Turbine> It's certainly a good issue ... we'll have to look into it. There aren't current plans but that could always change.

shekoush> Q: r staff users going to get some luv soon? staffers r the only melee users that don't have a quest/special weapon, unarmed have Hammud, sword have SoLL; axe have SoC (u get the idea). pls don't tell me we have the atlan/rav/hollow cuz all melee have'm

nei@turbine> *coughs something about the atlan...*

nei@turbine> but there's more staffing coming your way shortly.

Crowley@turbine> Staff (and spear!) are getting quest items some time soon

Fry9> Question: I was wondering if u can improve the platemail?... same burden, and armor level. however improve the protects like the superior helm. The reason i ask this platemail is ... well... horrible for darktide, and when i thought of knights, and armor, i thought of platemail... i'm not talking about store bought, it could be quest platemail, spread out around the land.... simular to that superior helm... [in difficulty to get, and in protects]

nei@turbine> *casts a singular red eye about the room* sounds like og, never saids anything, just looks around.

nei@turbine> there exists plate that has GOOD ele prots...

nei@turbine> the problem is on DT, you'll be dropping it all the time.

nei@turbine> (instead ask for a price reduction in the metal armors.... *Hint*)

starchboy> Hello, I was wondering if you could add in some type of clothing that you could wear over your armor like a sircoat or a robe or something you could use for guild destinction.

rei@Turbine> That's an interesting question that has been kicked around for a very long time (before AC came out actually)

rei@Turbine> However, it is not currently possible.

rei@Turbine> We are not likely to do it any time soon.

+zParaduck> Hello! Do you plan to have a live destruction of a town on Thanksgiving by Giant Turkeys (or similar)?

+zParaduck> They could be 2-3 times as tall as a human and go around in packs stampeding Dereth and causing chaos among the land! A live destruction of towns would be cool! *Imagines seeing a turkey casting War Magic Inept. V on him*

sean@Turbine> Ok, who's been leaking November's event?

Crowley@turbine> I've seen rampaging turkeys in the South Park FPS. Not going to repeat that here.

nei@turbine> turkeys? feh! who needs em when a single bunny can crush a town by himself?

rei@Turbine> Thanksgiving vs. Easter?

Crowley@turbine> I have some plans for poultry-based loving, but prolly not for Nov

Polloc9> what is better against blunt attack.... olthoi helm 230al below, heaume 150al average, or superior helm 100 al above average, ..... [assuming no buffs]

nei@turbine> btw, to the helm question vs bludgeon, ohelm and sup helm are worse than the 150 base stock

Continued

Original Link (now dead) - http://classic.zone.msn.com/asheronscall/news/devchatOct2.asp

Transcript of Developer's Chat, October 18th
Continued . . .

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otakugolem> Will archers be seeing any luff whatsoever? Azile has brought up the idea of arrows that ignore vulns and buffs (ala hollows) yet have a much higher base damage, yet are more readily available than crystal arrows.

otakugolem> Exploding arrows ala Baldurs Gate/bg2? Perhaps arrows that case Slowness other on their target, or freeze the target alltogether for a set amount of time, while the archer switches to a normal type of arrow

nei@turbine> yes. next month, archers get "faster"... no more of this "hold on, i need to switch modes... lemme go get a book while i do though..."

Dragonbaitorg> My question is on the new quest items being so high value and drop on death. Is there any plans on making these items (crystal quest stuff/island quest stuff) no drop or lowering the value so they don't drop everytime?...

Dragonbaitorg> i.e. It takes alot of work to get these items and with lag, disconnects, unrecoverable bodys a weeks work can be lost in a few moments.

Crowley@turbine> Well, I'm definitely not going to make the items no-drop-on-death

Crowley@turbine> I may do other things to tweak them to make them "better" but they will be minor changes.

Crowley@turbine> Quest items are by no means meant to be the best items you could ever get.

Crowley@turbine> I'll see about making them drop a wee bit less on death, tho

Akye> I'd like to give a shout-out to all the people who use the word "carebear" and "Dorktide" to all the people that whine about Mages being Nerfed, to all the people still whining about dagger (it's coming in November, just wait) to all the people who say UI changes are so easy to make and then whine about alchemy being so time consuming (if the UI changes are so "easy" then it should be "Easy" for you to make a fletching macro) to all the people who attack devs on the dev board, You have the best set of Devs any MMORPG has had to date, and probably will ever have for a long time looking at the drivel that the mass marketeers have planned for us consumers over the coming years. Thank you all for ruining this game, plese sign the guestbook on your way out.

Evil_Elvis_> Hello. I'm wondering if their is a quest timer for a person getting the Ashen keys that lady Aerfalle drops (like virindi masks or chorizite).

Evil_Elvis_> The other day we did the quest, and the person with the key ended up dying. We are probably going to redo the quest tomorrow, but we want the person who died to get the key again. If their's a timer, we'll just wait a few more days, otherwise we can go ahead with our schedule. PS: while fixing shendolain stuff, take the drop-on-death flag off aerlinth items.

rei@Turbine> Yes, a week (from Stormy)

Saffron_Dusk> pr0tal to Teth? No really. A very quick, technical question. Are there any plans to change the way requirements work on magic items? (The same MeleeD and MissileD values are assigned to similar items, yet Missile is inherently lower).

Saffron_Dusk> Therefore, most high-level items with MissileD reqs are unusable. Best game I ever played by the way. And Akye's right. To all the whiners, you got the best bunch of people in the business working for the game.

nei@turbine> oh yeah, so this came up awhile back in a .de chat, i think... looked into it.

nei@turbine> there's currently no difference between how missile/meleeD/melee diffs are calculated.

nei@turbine> if it's a weapon it gets the value, if it's armor-ish, it picks missile or meleeD and tags the number in.

nei@turbine> *scratches head* i suppose it could be changed... *launches official bug thingie into the matter*

hdlowrider2k> Q: The healing skill, could it be re-evalutated?

hdlowrider2k> I believe that it's the only skill that is difficulty based off of a current stat (ie current health). Could it be possible to make the skill checks vs the kind of kit you're using instead of your current health?

rei@Turbine> Thanks... we are not likely to change healing at this point in time.

nei@turbine> no.... heal often and heal well!

rei@Turbine> Suggest raising your healing skill... and healing before your health goes down significantly.

nei@turbine> however: the speed at which the animation plays out....

nei@turbine> *does out speed to the archers and healers of dereth*

Dreadman7> Q: Can you make it where if for example you hit hotkey "#7" 2 times, the healing kit that is in hotkey "#7" goes ahead and targets yourself for a heal.

Dreadman7> Everybody wants more hotkeys, well this would at least eliminate the need to have a bag of yourself on a hotkey so you can heal yourself easily. Plus it's easier to hit the same number twice rather than say.. 7+8.

rei@Turbine> Hmm, thanks for the idea, but I don't think it fits into the UI design.

LionHe4rt> Q: where can I find the holy hand gernade? - the Great White Rabbit must attone for his murders! Oh, been playing since beta.. addictive game, I love it, getting bored of olthoi vault, can you make me a grivver vault? how bout melee d to dodge magic?=)

LionHe4rt> oh and where's our 1 key restock =)?

nei@turbine> the bunny ate it.

Drakkar77> How about something that allows us to click a button, in the shop, and top off the spell comps to a predetermined amount we set at an earlier time? It allready keeps track of how many of each comp we have. How much harder would it be to subtract what we have from the total we want and add that number to the buy tab? If we had the right amount of pyreals needed of course. This would greatly increase speed for everyone buying comps, including fighters, and especialy DT Ppl. I'm not from DT btw.

rei@Turbine> I'm not a coder, but it doesn't sound trivial. I think we are more likely to use that dev time toward communication improvement coding.

sarasbaby> Question: Is there a chance we will ever get to see anything like the original matty robes or pre-patch greater shadow armor again...Perhaps a different kind of armor or robe but with some of the original quality?

sarasbaby> At times I feel my character was too young to quest for these items and now they are gone forever. :-(

rei@Turbine> No, there's a reason they are gone forever :)

nei@turbine> no.

nei@turbine> hoory robes 4 evah!

muleme> Any chance armor will be useful at high levels anytime soon? Every person above island level wears a robe variant or GSA due to buff time and elemental protection weaknesses in everything above studded leather (and its still poor for the most part)

muleme> If there is Plate with GOOD elemental protects, I don't have time to camp the overlord for weeks to get it, then loose it to my sorry ISPs discons. BTW 2 skill point would ungimp my pre-spec patch archer nicely.

nei@turbine> i like my armor more than a robe, but that's cause i wear snazzy armor with critter spells so i don't sit around buffing all day long =p

nei@turbine> if you like your robe, keep it -- but i don't think you're going to get any 1 piece easy buff uber armor.

Rissa_> Hello, Is there anyway to make AC compatible for colorblind players? i.e. buying tapers, talismen, anything that involves a color related purchase? Not to mention trying keep up with a colorblind player in a fellowship; friend vs foe...

Rissa_> There are alot of players with this problem and it is a pain for them and a pain for those who try to play with them. They tend to go with the monsters more often than thier fellows.

rei@Turbine> Very good question....

ken@turbine> As a color blind player myself, I feel your pain...

ken@turbine> there have been discussions about being able to let players alter their colors on the radar screen...but this would be in the far future if at all

ken@turbine> We are also looking at ways to help people help their comrades in the fellowships which might address some of those other concerns

BigPigg> Is there any way you can allow players to check the last time a quest was completed? I'll tell you my recent scenario. - "Okay guys, we've spent the last 8 hours doing the Aerlinthe quest, time to use this key on the Lady's chest and get some pHat l3wt and that sweet robe! ..Umm.. guys there's no robe here."Well dude*someone got it 3 days ago at 5 am, weren't you online to get the message? That robe only spawns once per week, duh you shoulda known." --- Let me tell ya' it can really ruin your day.

BigPigg> Also* If Part 2 of "Dagger Love"is backstab (I'm willing to bet my mules on it) I really hope you are taking into consideration: level 20 dagger player + Oswald's + BSD + 3 hours buffed by a friend = level 35 dagger.

nei@turbine> gimme your mules... it's not backstab =p

nei@turbine> so what server do i pick them up on?

nei@turbine> *chatter commences about making the quest table available to players*

nei@turbine> "we'll look into it"

RapturePoe> i would just like to say that i want the tremendous monougas back. becouse i want an enemy that is reall really big!!!i also want more quests for armor(that arent as hard as the shadow armor quest):)

nei@turbine> sheesh, no one ever loves paul.

rei@Turbine> Thanks ... we'd like to get them back in, too, down the road :)

S_Chip> Hi! Im Subedei from DT and i want to know if their are any plans to make melee combat charecters more interesting to use, rather than making them autoattack slaves.

S_Chip> Mages gotta buff, and debuff, and drain...Melees just kinda wack wack wack wack....rinse..repeat..etc...

nei@turbine> there actually is stuff on the "kinda far radar" for making combat more interesting...

nei@turbine> but that's the "Far" radar....

Crowley@turbine> Bah. I like being an intellectual lightweight when I melee.

JimDaisy> *I Love Babe! *Licks his lips* Q: Is there a "key economy" for sturdy iron keys? I've recieved a lot of flak over how many i've collected so far. Being accused of slowing down the spawn rate of sturdy iron keys by keeping so many out of circulation :/

nei@turbine> no key economy

nei@turbine> keep em all.. hoard em...

nei@turbine> amass huge piles and dole them out like an evil overlord.

rei@Turbine> Have auctions.

Continued

Original Link (now dead) - http://classic.zone.msn.com/asheronscall/news/devchatOct3.asp

Transcript of Developer's Chat, October 18th
Continued . . .

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chimchim_1> Q: Have you thought about making "cool" quest stuff rather than "uber" quest stuff? I mean like an orb that makes a mist appear around your body or mirror images you etc. I think a lot of players would like neato things like this and you dont have to worry about cries of unbalancing, crappy items etc...

rei@Turbine> Actually, yes.

cardell@turbine> Well, the masks were intended to be "cool".

nei@turbine> my dress is cool...

cardell@turbine> And somewhat useful. I sincerely hope to continue the string of "cool" items, and to be truthful, they kind of started with the shields that you could get with the Soul Crystals.

jason@Turbine> my dress feels cool on my ...censored...

rei@Turbine> The pumpkins aren't really a quest but I think they look cool.

cardell@turbine> Hopefully, this trend will continue, for though quest items are not the best, they are unique.

ChardCorpse> Q: can you tell us if there is an AC2 and if so a little about it and why is there nothing on your web page?

ChardCorpse> I've seen some news about an asherons call II on a dutch web page. It was hard to translate but it was definatly about AC2 and I thouhgt I read something about being able to eport/import charictors from AC1.

Charley@Turbine> Neither Turbine nor Microsoft have announced anything about the possibility of follow-on projects.

Charley@Turbine> So there's nothing we can comment on here.

_hbd_> Seeings as the Ashen Key has a Quest Timer to be re-picked up... If you were to loot the key and then recall out then die on the mainland, would you be able to loot it from your own corpse?? That would make the 'Always-drop' tag suck even more then it does as it is now... Comment Aerfalles Pallium spawns once a week?

rei@Turbine> You would not be able to pick it up, no. (from Stormy)

Zero_Blade> Hey great game,Q: I was just wondering why whenever you put a Major Atlan Stone into an Atlan Claw the stone looks blue.

nei@turbine> *scampers off to VSS to diff some files*

nei@turbine> oh, because i'm not calling the right color file =p

nei@turbine> consider me checking out and fixing that now...

Aftershock23> Is there going to be any attempt at making other melee skills or weapons (Not UA) a little more uber? Or is the #1P of dagger also for other melee weaps?

Aftershock23> Axe is the only weapon that comes close to UA and even it dosen't have all dmg types (That pick axe is kinda weak for an axe). I have been debating over making a new character but knowing they will always be competing with the latest uber UA template is annoying to say the least. And please don't say that I should play the character I want to, the servers are too crowded to do my own thing (Not your fault, but should be a factor)

nei@turbine> dagger then mace then done with the real weapon balance.

nei@turbine> further things can come in the form of content tweaks, but nothing major

SirSmokeAlot> Plz make swords higher base 8-16 isnt cutting it Im level 43 swords and every other melee skill of my level beats me to kills for any type of monster....there are barely any rapiers out there and a lvl30 UA can take a lvl43 swordsmens kills easy :)

SirSmokeAlot> also make backpacks 2 times the size im sick of 2 bags of charges and 2 bags of components :-p also we should have a "chaos" pk server where everyone starts at lvl 50 with good equipment and monsters invade towns daily

nei@turbine> see the previous answer

TRA_JK_Racoon19> Q: Would it be possible to implement Amuli/Koujia/Celdon plated robes?

TRA_JK_Racoon19> I.E. AL 10 amuli, AL 20 Koujia, and AL 30 celdon robes with their previous forms protections.

TRA_JK_Racoon19> Buff the Oak Drudge! Sometimes it seems like it's not even fighting back

rei@Turbine> No plated robes.

AirmailMars> No question, just two quick requests to make life easier: larger stacks for stam/health/mana potions (say, 50), and an extra column in the components tab (where totals are listed) listing the number of peas you have for the component (peas are really cool!).

nei@turbine> the pea listing isn't far off...

jason@Turbine> neither is the lunch lister

nei@turbine> *goes to fix the claws*

Sin_Samash> Will we ever be able to use 2 weapons at the same time? 1 weapon per hand (i.e., 2 daggers, dagger/katar, etc...) I'd like to know if I would be wasting my time collecting 2 weapons for just such an event. I'm carrying too much now!

Sin_Samash> The trade off being more attacks, but less defense (no shield). Is my weapon saving useless?

rei@Turbine> No plans are in the works for this right now, sorry.

rei@Turbine> I think Sean would kill us if we wanted to do that anyway ;)

jason@Turbine> so would the UI team.

Sobe7> Will there be any attempts to move the dires crowd around in the next patch? Every level 30-45 and their roommate hunts in Teth or Wei Jhou. Ayan was ok but it's unsummonable and everything (save the rabbit) is in Wei Jhou (BSD - Metos)

Sobe7> BTW Fix the stone tool on FF all the silver rats are laughing as they crit me for 70 a hit with purple MSA L.

rei@Turbine> In the next patch? No.

Joreallean> Will you take a look at the xp reduction code? I have experienced xp loss when fighting Lugians and using the side step dodging of thier rocks. I calculated that I had to eat about 50% of the rocks to get full xp for the beastie.

rei@Turbine> (Note for Sobe7: you might find some more fun stuff tho)

Joreallean> My understanding is this type of dodging wasn't supposed to be affected by the patch

ken@turbine> We'll take a look at it...I fight rock heaving lugies all day and certainly havent noticed any xp reduction, but its something we can peer into

JRPascucci> Regarding Randomness:SIK loot,mob loot and trophies appear to have a non-random component to their spawn:Is this the case, does loot quality entropy over time,or does camping change loot,or are trophys more likely in different parts of the world?

JRPascucci> Supporting Claim: SIK drops appear to come in clumps. Everyone has hunted Frags for hours and gotten nothing, and we have all taken a swipe at a passing frag and gotten a drop. SI chests will have many _many_ bad rolls, and on a different day two good ones in a row. Additionally, Loot in general seems to have gone downhill. Fizzle and Burn rates seem to have similar behaviors: Related?

rei@Turbine> It is not the case.

rei@Turbine> Though I know some people here are cursed with terrible mote luck, and some seem to find them everywhere....

rei@Turbine> There might be an issue with some random number generation, but certainly nothing like entropy over time.

mmj15> Will there ever be a lifestone portal spell put in the game any time soon? That would help out all those people with no item enchantment skill so much, and makes getting around on Dereth ALOT easier! Thanks! -Kozah of Frostfell P.S. Masks are WAY too big!

ken@turbine> There are no current plans to add more ls/portal spells, although additional portal circles are being discussed

EBWolfMiG> Could you add a spell to cast on wands that give a +% to magic defense? like defender gives a +% to melee defense on a weapon.

nei@turbine> no, this would be horribly powerful in many situations.

LifeguardAC> Please consider this: Double the time for buff spells, leave debuff at the current duration. The ratio of time spent buffing/fighting is too high right now and this would benefit everyone not just mages.

nei@turbine> if you don't like buffing: either buff less or get more items to buff for you.

nei@turbine> you don't need uber-buffs all day long.

Skitsoprenic> My comment/question regards the xp/skill point curve at levels 60+, and its effects. As you probably know, after level 60/65, every single class type has hit 'the wall'. This is where the difference between levels is slim to none. Major skills/attributes cost 2-3mil/point. Have you, Turbine, considered that you decrease this curve*

rei@Turbine> Yes, we have thought about it, no current plans.

Shaliar> Will you ever place a "cap" on the amount of experience points it takes to raise an attribute, trained skill, or specialized skill one additional point? Please help, it now cost my fighter 5 mil to raise my strength one point.

rei@Turbine> It ties in with the above.

rei@Turbine> No current plans to significantly change it, given the rate at which XP can be earned at high levels....

chozen317> my question concerns the way the defenses work the higher melee and missle d gets the less damage u recieve & the more u evade why does magic d seemed flawed in this, it only ups odds to resist not lower damage, that is not right it should be fixed more..

chozen317> Can we atleast see the math go down from will+focus/7 to /4 or /3

nei@turbine> no, magic D isn't going to be made any easier formula wise.

nei@turbine> take away high monsters ability to hit you with magic and then the only option to dmg players is hollow... and do you really want that?

_AoA_Kiler> About how long till we see lvl 7 and 8 spells introduced into the game now that peoples skills are getting high enough to cast them?

nei@turbine> you got A LONG TIME before you see 8s...

nei@turbine> not as long for 7s.

Janos_Lin> Will the shadow armor ever go up in al again, possibly to it's pre patch status, or better than pre patch? 2 comments, PLEASE make the entire SoCS quest repeatable! Also, make it possible to put the black fire stone in the shadow armor and get a huge gain

Janos_Lin> in al and prots. Maybe make the post patch GSA to to al 230 from 150, and above average in all. The black stone is hard to obtain and would be worthwhile for those who had it.

nei@turbine> shadow armor is as is and as will be. move along, there's nothing to see here.

Crowley@turbine> I don't ever want to touch Shadow Armor again.

GoD_FiNiXX> I wanna know when will u fix the bug with portaling its just insain im portaling and im hitting a monster with a lvl 1 spell,thats how long it takes we dont need the animation,also can u make some thing about pk timer that says when u can go npk after kill,Also u should make more quest for lower lvl people not some junky ones like some thing they good they can use till they reach a high lvl and will be able to get ther own items done.

nei@turbine> um..

nei@turbine> erm.

rei@Turbine> Portaling is not just a gratuitous animation.

ken@turbine> Don't really understand the first part of the question, but I think October has a lot of stuff for lower levels to do, quest wise

rei@Turbine> It's also real live loading time.

Arcanine4> Are there ever going to be decent quest armor that you don't have to kill enemies the eat most people for breakfast? GSA is the only quest armor that I know of and that is almost impossible until higher levels. Great game, I love the new masks and dresses.

Crowley@turbine> If you want really cool armor, I wouldn't rely on quests to do it, because as a rule quest items should not be better than what is available through the loot-o-matic.

Crowley@turbine> Having said that, we're certainly going to put out some other quest armor in the future. There are no hard and fast plans for it as yet.

Granrot> Will it ever be possible to specialize skills post creation, say at a specific level? I suggest that you should be able to specialize freely (if you have enough skill credits) as soon as you hit level 100...

Granrot> This would motivate mid - high level characters like me (im almost 90 now), with designflaws to continue playing instead of starting over or selling on ebay. And please think more/faster about the skill cost cap, focus and self are at 11M each now.

nei@turbine> no. no post-creation spec'ing.

DTrmn8r1> Hi all! I love the game, only beef is about sword. I have played every other char type, and tested extensively with friends of similar weapon skill, sword just does not compete. Is there any desparatley needed love coming for sword? Sword IS unpowered.

DTrmn8r1> can it at least be looked at?

nei@turbine> see the previous 2 answers...

nei@turbine> dagger then mace then done.

Kethlas_WIG> Q: Any hope that archers with 250+ bow skill might have a better then even chance of hitting a moving target? Now, archers have a difficult time hitting a target that is manuevering wildly. (eg. monster chassing a buddy, melee pk chassing a buddy).

Kethlas_WIG> Kudos on the masks!

nei@turbine> we're not going to change the pathing code for people of a given skill level... if we had the time (we don't) to improve pathing, it would be for anything missile-y (war, arrows, THROWN WEAPONS!, etc)...

Dasterdly> What are the spawn rates for the Aerlinthe Island quest items? *Waves to everyone in The Knights of Dasterdly Allegiance on Morningthaw!* The best group of people anywhere! Great Game Turbine! Get on with the housing and liege tools please.

rei@Turbine> Depends on the item... some only come once per cycle.

rei@Turbine> "The ones in the chest respawn very quickly"

rei@Turbine> So... it very much depends on the item.

dadown> Will thown weapons ever be as effective as other weapons? While there have been some cute additions recently, they are still a joke compared to the power of other weapons. In particular, they are far too heavy compared to arrows, etc.

nei@turbine> an excellent ending question!

nei@turbine> one day, thrown weapons will be too powerful and cries of "nerf!" will fill the boards.

nei@turbine> but as to when that is....

nei@turbine> well... um... not for awhile.

rei@Turbine> Thanks to everyone :)

rei@Turbine> Have a good night!